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I finished up a few things today and took it for a drive. Nice to have those cables to the starter tied up and the oil pan bolts got snugged down.

So far, so good.

The gas tank and pump isn't dripping a single drop of gas.

The clutch is releasing well. No grinding going between gears or into reverse. I didn't try to adjust the clutch and just cranked the "T" adjusters all the way to the rear. I was concerned that would be a problem and the newly relined discs would be too thick or, at least, contribute to dragging.

The shifter is very tight and precise. A big difference in feel from the old transmission with the tall shifter. The later transmission has a lower final drive, It's now a 2.20 vs. 2.75, and it's really noticeable.

I'll just be puttering with it over the summer. Still no speedo or temperature reading. Maybe over the fall and winter I'll get to rebuilding the engine and engine compartment WYAIT items. In the meantime, I'll be driving it!

With the weather warming up and hockey season over, it's car project time in Minnesota.

My next effort will be an engine rebuild with an Ishihara-Johnson crack scraper/windage kit in the bottom. I got that ordered today with a quoted 6-week lead time.

Now to start collecting the other parts. I've got the NLA crank bearing set already. I'll be getting it apart and evaluating the crank, block and pistons before getting too many parts but had to get the bearings when I could.

The parts for the engine rebuild and flowing in. I'm going to post the interesting ones.

Now, is this interesting? Here's an oil pick-up off some sort of S4. I'll be removing the "cloverleaf" pick-up that's in the engine now. I like the later pick-up because it goes lower into the pan and has a screen over it.

The cloverleaf is an interesting design but I don't think it really works well. If the the seal between the tube and cloverleaf leaks air can get into the system. Also, once air gets under the lip it'll get sucked into the engine. Under track conditions, I think the edge gets exposed.

With the I-J windage kit, having the tube lower and with a screen is all it needs, anyways.

Here we have a tensioner off an '89 S4. I like this better as it has the oil fill ports and is a bit bigger internally. The oil fills against the block giving better heat transfer to the tensioner. I think it just works better for maintaining even tension. I won't be using the tensioner warning at all. The early blocks are machined correctly to use these tensioners without modificaiton. Just need the later gasket and it works with the block and existing tensioner parts.

I'll be upgrading the oil pump with this '89 unit. The important difference is the way the shaft is lubricated. On the '80 pump the oil is sucked past the shaft and into the engine. That can suck air in theough the seal. Not good. On the later pump the oil is pumped to the shaft and it drains back into the pan.

In the picture, you can seen the drain tube on the pump as a boss on the outside and an oval hole on the back. The drain hole is towards the bottom of the pic that shows the gear.

This is going to work great but only after drilling a hole though the block to let the oil drain into the sump. The pump looks really nice, too.

Geting back to this project after spending the summer on other P-car work.

Here's an engine from a '79 US automatic that I got for free. Got almost the whole car, actually. Gave away a bunch of parts but a lot of good stuff got tucked into the garage.

The project here is to clean and re-seal the engine so it can go into The Zombie while I rebuild the Euro S engine. They're both CIS engines and are plug-compatible. We'll see how it goes as the '79 had sat for 6 years or more. So much goop inside and crusty ocrud on the outside. Some "mechanics" had tried to stop the leaks with sealant. It was on the thermostat, cross-bridge O-ring, oil pump and oil pressure sensor. I decided to not take the heads off, or cam towers, but to re-seal the rest. It needed a water pump as the old one was frozen, or at least sticky. The project is fun and cheap as there are a lot of parts in boxes. Who'd put on a used water pump? Me!

Geting back to this project after spending the summer on other P-car work.

Here's an engine from a '79 US automatic that I got for free. Got almost the whole car, actually. Gave away a bunch of parts but a lot of good stuff got tucked into the garage.

The project here is to clean and re-seal the engine so it can go into The Zombie while I rebuild the Euro S engine. They're both CIS engines and are plug-compatible. We'll see how it goes as the '79 had sat for 6 years or more. So much goop inside and crusty ocrud on the outside. Some "mechanics" had tried to stop the leaks with sealant. It was on the thermostat, cross-bridge O-ring, oil pump and oil pressure sensor. I decided to not take the heads off, or cam towers, but to re-seal the rest. It needed a water pump as the old one was frozen, or at least sticky. The project is fun and cheap as there are a lot of parts in boxes. Who'd put on a used water pump? Me!

you sure you dont want to pull the heads since its out and the most convenient?

you sure you dont want to pull the heads since its out and the most convenient?

That's good advice but I decided to risk it. Just trying to get the engine ready at minimal cost and effort. I was also concerned I'd bust cam tower bolts or have a head stud problem. "Ready" is getting set at runs and fluids don't blow out of it. If it loses a head gasket dramatically I'll have done it wrong.

I was mulling over moving the cams and FI system to a 4.7L block and heads and having the heads done...and then realized I was lining myself up for ~$700 and another 15 hours of work.

That's good advice but I decided to risk it. Just trying to get the engine ready at minimal cost and effort. I was also concerned I'd bust cam tower bolts or have a head stud problem. "Ready" is getting set at runs and fluids don't blow out of it. If it loses a head gasket dramatically I'll have done it wrong.

I was mulling over moving the cams and FI system to a 4.7L block and heads and having the heads done...and then realized I was lining myself up for ~$700 and another 15 hours of work.

I understand and if it ran fine before then i would be ok with not going to extra mile. But the stop leak would tell me they thought they had a blown HG and wanted to bandaid it up

Seeing you work on this car makes me want to grab a 928 on the cheap and work on it.

There wasn't stop leak used, from what I can tell. There was RTV on multiple things. Maybe they couldn't get parts so just gooped it and put it back. We'll see if it's a problem.

Tonight I used a fuel pump to try out the CIS system. Doesn't look promising!

What you see is a fuel pump attached to the supply with the return going back into the fuel can. A couple of platic trays catch the drips and injector spray. Without the injectors there was dripping from 7 of 8 lines. With injectors on there was one 1 really spraying. The injectors include 4 good ones and 4 I got used years ago. This will take more work, obviously, and I may just use the FI system off the working engine when I pull it.

I don't know what that copper pipe "tree" is in the middle. It wasn't connected when I got the car. I'm not sure what it could be for.

Here's a pic that tells the story. The engine for the Euro S is on the hook. Came out fairly easily as the exhaust and drivetrain have been off in the last couple of years. The wiring harness wasn't bolted to the crossmember which suggests the engine has been out before. I'm curious as to if the internals are stock. The car really pulls. One thing I noticed was that the fuel distributor has bolts on the top next to each outlet banjo fitting. Bolts or adjusters of some sort?

The '79 donor car engine is coming along. It's on the floor with no FI system. I've got the CIS working, sort of. All the injectors spray but not evenly and not in good patterns. I decided to move the engine pull ahead to take advantage of the long fall we're having. A lack of snow and frost has made me complacent about finishing the summer projects.

And the car needs an engine. I'll be putting in a new steering rack, hoses and a few other parts before dropping in the '79 engine. Sharp eyes will see the clutch is still in place. I've found it easier to struggle with aligning the intermediate shaft nub from above rather than lifting the clutch pack from below.

Working on installing the '79 engine now. Found that the mounts were broken. Luckily, I had some used ones on the shelf. Those were cracked a bit. I think I'll get some new ones for putting the "S" engine back. Not cheap, but I like them.